The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) immigration attorneys’ expertise focuses on family-based immigration, humanitarian relief, naturalization and citizenship, immigration enforcement, and removal defense.
Since 1979 we have helped expand the immigration expertise of attorneys, nonprofit staff, criminal defenders, and others assisting immigrant clients.
In addition to authoring the ILRC’s practice manuals, our expert attorneys have been published by Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB), American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), ILW.com, Huffington Post, Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, Center for Law and Social Policy, The Hill, LexisNexis Emerging Issues, and Fox News Latino.
We have also provided training to National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), American Bar Association Commission on Immigration, Federal Bar Association, The State Bar of California, Legal Aid Association of California, Judicial Council of California and more.
This document provides guidelines to prosecutor offices on considering the immigration consequences of criminal cases.
So you’ve won a 1473.7 motion, now what? For immigration purposes it’s important to document the victory and secure a signed order from an immigration judge. The signed order need not go into great detail; under Matter of Pickering, it is sufficient for the order to state generally that the conviction was vacated on a ground of legal invalidity. Attached please find a sample order for a grant of a 1473.7 motion.
This one-page infographic summarizes the various California post-conviction relief vehicles, their requirements, and their immigration benefits.
The ILRC joins numerous child welfare and immigration advocates across the country in urging all members of the House Judiciary Committee to protect the best interests of children by opposing H.R. 495, the “Protection of Children Act.” H.R. 495 asks Congress to break away from long-held standards of child welfare in the United States. This bill inhumanely seeks to strip vulnerable children of existing legal protections, and goes a step further to encourage the increased deportation of these children back to the very danger they fled from.
This resource offers background on what you should know about SB 4, the new Texas law regarding immigration enforcement, and how you can protect yourself and your loved ones.
This short summary explains what ICE warrants (also called administrative immigration warrants or civil immigration warrants) do, and links to resources for further information and analysis.
This detailed memo analyzes the authority of ICE administrative warrants and why they fail to meet Constitutional standards. The memo examines why DHS has decided to issue ICE warrants along with ICE detainers, and explains the similarities and differences between these two types of documents. The memo focuses on how the existence of administrative ICE warrants does not confer immigration authority onto local and state law enforcement officers.
In March 2017, DHS created a new policy where they would send an administrative warrant along with all ICE detainer requests. Along with this policy, they released new ICE warrant forms: I-200, and I-205. These annotated forms explain what ICE warrants mean and whom they are directed to.
This sample ICE detainer is annotated to highlight what advocates should look for, and explains some of the legal problems with detainers.
Cal. P.C. § 261.5(c) is not an aggravated felony, but the law may change for the worse on § 261.5(d)Esquivel Quintana v. AG Sessions (May 30, 2017)
Report by the ILRC that estimates the number of current and future undocumented immigrants that could be deported without due process under President Trump's forthcoming expansion of expedited removal.
Letter from National, State, and Local non-profit organizations opposing the Trump Mass Deportation Act (The Michael Davis, Jr. and Danny Oliver in Honor of State and Local Law Enforcement Act, H.R. 2431).
This practice advisory is designed to introduce legal workers to the T visa. It outlines T visa eligibility requirements, discusses the advantages of applying for T visas over other forms of humanitarian immigration relief, and analyzes how President Trump's recent executive orders impact T visa applicants.
Local criminal justice policies, such as vagrancy laws and cash bail requirements, endanger vulnerable immigrant populations and undercut the promise of “sanctuary” cities, according to a report released today by Harvard Law School’s Fair Punishment Project, the Immigrant Defense Project, and the Immigrant Legal Resource Center. The report urges city and county leaders who want to protect immigrants to act swiftly to end harmful criminal justice practices that criminalize poverty and send undocumented residents into the deportation pipeline.
The Know Your Rights Skit is a guide for presenting know your rights materials in the case of contact with ICE. The document includes a skit which is designed to educate participants while reducing fears.
Immigrants who are alleged to be involved with gangs are top immigration enforcement priorities for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This is true even if they have no criminal convictions and DHS is targeting them based on allegations alone. If such individuals choose to apply for immigration benefits, they may be exposing themselves to serious risk. This practice advisory discusses what gangs and gang databases are, how allegations of gang membership arise in immigration cases, the over-inclusive process law enforcement employs to allege gang membership, and strategies to identify whether your client may be labeled a gang member or associate. The purpose of this advisory is to help immigration advocates better understand how law enforcement in the United States documents and alleges gang membership or association, such that advocates are able to identify red flags in cases, and are better prepared to work with clients to assess possible risks in filing for relief.
This intake form, available in both English and Spanish, is designed to assist legal service providers and nonprofit organizations interested in screening clients for immigrant post-conviction relief services.
Students at the UC Irvine Immigrant Rights Clinic prepared a Penal Code 1473.7 motion to vacate for one of their clients and offered it as a resource for others filing similar motions. This motion is a reference tool only, and should not be used as a template or a model, nor should it be reproduced without substantial alterations. If you are filing a 1473.7 motion, you must perform your own legal research and draft your own materials, as the law in this area is rapidly changing and case-specific motions have significantly higher success rates in criminal courts.
This practice advisory reviews options for naturalization applicants who cannot afford the filing fee for the Form N-400, Application for Naturalization: the reduced fee option (Form I-942) and the USCIS fee waiver (Form I-912). The practice advisory also provides resources and tips for completing either application.
Report by the ILRC that calculates the economic losses of ending TPS for El Salvador, Honduras, and Haiti. Losses include cost to taxpayers, GDP reduction, decrease in Social Security and Medicare contributions, and turnover costs for businesses.
President Trump issued an Executive Order on immigration enforcement in January 2017. The Order included sections ordering that sanctuary cities would not be eligible to receive federal funding. This fact sheet breaks down the key issues raised by the Executive Order, examining the possible meanings of the order, and the legal limitations on what the President can do.
The immigration statute designates certain types of crimes as “aggravated felonies.” See INA § 101(a)(43), 8 USC § 1101(a)(43). These are the most dangerous type of convictions for a noncitizen. Despite the name, this definition reaches offenses that are neither felonies nor aggravated. It can include selling $10 worth of marijuana, a misdemeanor shoplifting offense with a one-year suspended sentence, or failure to appear at a criminal hearing. The person must be convicted of the offense, not merely commit it, for aggravated felony penalties to apply.
As a trusted institution in immigrant families’ lives, schools can play a critical role in ensuring immigrant families have access to important information and resources during these turbulent and scary times. This document contains tips on what schools can do to help.
The Republican Administration has already issued multiple immigration-related Executive Orders and implementing memoranda. These orders and memoranda touch on nearly all areas of immigration enforcement, including the treatment of immigrant children. In this resource, we address possible ways that UACs may be affected by these sweeping changes. Keep in mind that we do not know how these policies will play out in practice, and there will likely be legal and advocacy challenges to their implementation.
Cada familia debe tener un plan de preparación. Aunque nuestro deseo es que usted nunca tenga que usar este plan, es buena práctica de tener uno a la mano para reducir el estrés de lo inesperado. Este paquete le ayudará a crear un plan de preparación familiar, independientemente de su estatus migratorio. Sin embargo, por los retos adicionales que los inmigrantes y familias con status migratorios variados enfrentan, también tenemos consejos adicionales para los inmigrantes.